Author Topic: Europe 1939 Game - April 2012  (Read 10605 times)

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Mark

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Europe 1939 Game - April 2012
« on: May 09, 2012, 02:30:53 AM »
Hand an awesome 48 hours at John's weekend before last where we played a 39 Europe game that came down to the wire - we took some pics, so here is the play-by-play:

Mark

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Re: Europe 1939 Game - April 2012
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2012, 02:33:58 AM »
Barbarossa did not start until Summer 1941, but when it did, the Germans hit with a vengeance with their double mech-move - making it all the way to the Dnepr in their first turn. . .

Godleader

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Re: Europe 1939 Game - April 2012
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2012, 05:41:15 AM »
What is the stand for airplanes is? Thanks

Mcassiani

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Re: Europe 1939 Game - April 2012
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2012, 11:54:49 PM »
Wow Mark i must say im truly impressed with the aircraft ,did you paint those?
Did rommell ever attack mesa metruth?
How far did the russians get pushed back?

Cape Mike

Mark

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Re: Europe 1939 Game - April 2012
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2012, 03:22:47 AM »
 ;)  A friend of mine who paints miniatures professionally from Prague painted the planes - he did an awesome job. . . He also drilled a tiny hole in the bottom of the planes and mounted them on small metal wire pegs so that the planes could sit above the counters by a half an inch - you will get to play with them at Origins!

Quote
Did Rommel ever attack Mersa Metruth?
. .. stay tuned. . . .   ::)
« Last Edit: May 10, 2012, 03:30:34 AM by Mark »

Mark

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Re: Europe 1939 Game - April 2012
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2012, 03:29:10 AM »
The war rolled on. . .Army Group North during the Barbarossa turn; A very early Dieppe raid in Brittany by the British in Autumn 1941 helped draw some German reserves to France; MANSTEIN ended up taking Mersa Matruh with Rommel invading Syria and flanking the British 8th Army  :o  and  the Struggle for the Dnepr in the Spring of 1942. . .

Godleader

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Re: Europe 1939 Game - April 2012
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2012, 05:24:38 AM »
Ok thanks, its a good idea.

Mark

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Re: Europe 1939 Game - April 2012
« Reply #7 on: May 11, 2012, 10:22:17 PM »
In 1942 Egypt fell to the combined blows from Manstein and Rommel, as Montgomery was encircled and defeated outside of Cairo.  The Italian-German army then rapidly advanced across the Middle-East with an mechanized corp and parachute and air-transported infantry. . .

Meanwhile, the US now in the war, an Anglo-American army was landed in Morocco and Algeria to open a second front!


Mark

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Re: Europe 1939 Game - April 2012
« Reply #8 on: May 15, 2012, 01:14:26 AM »
The war rolled into 1943:  Moscow fell the the Axis in late 1942, but by Summer of 1943 it had been retaken by the Soviets.  Rommel and the Italian mechanized corps occupied the Middle East after driving the scattered British resistance.  General Mark Clark and the 5th Army re-took Cairo from the Axis.  Patton sliced through Kesselring and Axis resistance in Tunisia opening up the central Med and Italy to potential Allied invasion.


Mark

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Re: Europe 1939 Game - April 2012
« Reply #9 on: May 17, 2012, 02:52:18 AM »
Planning and preparation for Overlord in the Summer of 1943 - look at all those bombers!!!  Army Group North finds itself in a dangerous salient and finally - an early second front in the Autumn of 1943 with the Allies landing in Normandy!

Mark

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Re: Europe 1939 Game - April 2012
« Reply #10 on: May 19, 2012, 07:14:50 PM »
By the Spring of 1944, the Allied Beachhead in France had extended even though ferocious German counterattacks had managed to retake Paris.  In the Med, Alexander lands and takes Sicily.

Meanwhile, on the Russian Front, the German Army Group South faces Soviet bridgeheads across the Dnepr as well as a Svoiet beachhead in Romania.  The Soviet advance in the North encircles a German army in the forests South of Leningrad while the remnants of Army Group North falls back in Latvia.

The tide has turned on all fronts - but with the Allies be able to advance fast enough through 1944 to win the game?

Mark

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Re: Europe 1939 Game - April 2012
« Reply #11 on: May 26, 2012, 02:30:16 PM »
So - unfortunately we ran out of time to finish the game and had to walk away after the Spring 1944 turn.  The VP level was such that the game would not be decided for at least another two turns and we did not have the time on Monday evening to play it to a conclusion. 

The Allies were firmly established in France - though German counterattacks had pushed them back out of Paris.  The Luftwaffe was concentrated in France, though through attrition was dwindling fast.  In the Med the Allies had landed in Siciliy, and had advanced out of Tunisia to take all of Libya, but an out of supply Axis force still held on to Alexandria in Egypt. 

On the Russian front, a couple of turns of no German reinforcements had weakened both army groups north and south.  The Russians were over the Dnepr and had finally relieved Leningrad and were pushing the Germans back into Lithuania and Poland.

The next two turns I think would have decided things.  It is really amazing how quickly the Germans can collapse the last year and a half of the game.  Facing attrition on all fronts, there just are not enough reinforcements to hold back the tide everywhere.  On the other hand, the Allies need to be taking back VPs very aggressively.  It would have been a hard fight for Paris - and I am not sure we would have taken it by Autumn 1944.  The Russians were advancing, but I am not sure if the crucial VPs of Warsaw and Ploesti would have been in our hands by Autumn (I am pretty confident the Russians would have gotten Riga, Kieve and forced the Finns out of the war by Autumn - but that only would buy the Allies another 3 VPs).

In the Med, the Allies did not have a lot of resources to do to much.  I don't think we would have gotten to Rome by Autumn, but perhaps taken Naples and liberated Alexandria now that it was out of supply for a gain of 2 VPs.

So, if the Axis were to hold Paris (as well as Warsaw, Ploesti, Rome) they would have had 20VPs by the end of Autumn and won the game.  Had they lost any one of those the game would have continued into the Winter.  So - it was close - which is a lot of fun when you get down to the endgame.  Hopefully, the next game we play at Origins will come down to the 1945 wire as well!

John D.

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Re: Europe 1939 Game - April 2012
« Reply #12 on: May 28, 2012, 03:51:38 AM »
Yes- it would have been close! The invasion of Romania was unexpected and that really was going to set things back for the Axis!!